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The Blood Heart Orphanage, residing in the "slums" of the city of Elderbridge, at the far east wall area on a street known as Dark Avenue Street, was a large building—although rather run-down—where a group of nuns took care of parentless children they either found starving on the streets, who came knocking at their door one day, or who were sometimes even dropped as babies at their doorstep.
Paul and Chris made their way to the Blood Heart Orphanage while the three children guided them; every single citizen walking around gave them a glance of surprise and awe. Most people stepped back in fear, while a few remained curious, staying not too far from them.
"So these areas are the poorest around, huh?" Chris wondered, looking around. "I thought you had fixed the poverty problem already? What's with this place?"
"I fixed the crime problem for the most part, taking down the largest criminal organizations…" Paul sighed. "But that doesn't mean poverty is gone forever and everyone gets to live happily ever after. It takes time before everyone can get up and start walking again. Things looked even worse around here before. To get people out of poverty, I need to create more jobs, and I'm trying. With the new facilities I will construct in the city soon enough, jobs should skyrocket, and as we expand the farms, more farmers and workers will be needed. More resources, food, and everything will flow through our city—and money too—create a better economy. But it's impossible to create a perfect utopia… I'm not that idealistic. There will always be poor people anywhere in the world."
"Hmmm… Agh, what a headache; why is this game so complicated?" Chris sighed, feeling annoyed. "It's way too damn realistic!"
"I mean, I like that," Paul smiled. "This realism creates a very unique gameplay; no city builder, civilization management, or anything of the sort has ever given me this feeling that I am really ruling over a city with real people and all the problems that come with such an ordeal."
"It really doesn't stress you one bit?! You're just crazy…" Chris laughed a bit. "Right, Jese?"
"A-Ah! Did you say something, Chris?" Ermelinda was chatting with the kids, holding their hands so they wouldn't get lost; she was really good with kids and had a very motherly attitude.
Despite her strange aura of life that made the people of this world feel uneasy, these kids quickly grew to like her, and her motherly or big sister-like attitude won their hearts fast.
"…Aren't you enjoying this way too much? Did you want to be a mom or something?" Chris wondered, raising an eyebrow.
"N-None of that! I just happen to have a little sister…" Ermelinda sighed. "Most of the time, I have to take care of her because my mom's working. I'm just good with kids, hehe."
"Huh…" Chris crossed his arms. He didn't know how to feel about this unexpected talent that Jese had.
"Well, isn't that nice? Maybe you should learn a thing or two from her…" Paul said with a cocky smile through Vlad's face. "Don't you think?"
"Hah?! Why are you acting so cocky?!" Chris turned red from the embarrassment of being teased. "I don't have anything to learn from her! And I hate kids!"
"W-Why so aggressive?" Paul muttered. "They're just kids…"
"Yeah, but they're so damn annoying…" Chris groaned. "They mess everything up, and then I have to clean it all on my own… They break your things and start crying when you tell them they can't do whatever they want…"
"Hmm, this sounds a bit personal now…" Vlad said. "Did you have some bad experiences with kids in your house?"
"Bleh…" Chris groaned. "Maybe… Maybe my cousins come to visit our house every year, and they're very annoying… And maybe they enter my room and mess everything up… And maybe they sometimes grab my figures, which aren't toys, and play with them and break them…! And maybe Mom and Dad don't care about that and always forgive them!"
"O-Oh… Okay, I guess that sucks; sorry about that…" Paul said. "But can't you lock your door with a key?"
"I try to do that, but sometimes I forget… or my mom opens the door anyway…" Chris facepalmed. "Seriously, I can hardly have privacy sometimes; even when our house is so big, you're pretty lucky."
"Lucky? Do you really think I'm lucky…?" Vlad sighed. "Oh well, I guess from your perspective… Hm."
As he talked with Chris, he noticed some notifications.
Ding!
[Through the usage of various abilities, magic, and alchemy, you've evolved the {Territory Building}: [Stone Walls: Level 1/10] into [Abyssal Crimson Moon Fortress Wall Golem: Level 3/10]!]
[The power of the walls has improved dramatically! You can now assign soldiers inside its fortress-like internal structure for the constant vigilance of Elderbridge.]
[The Walls are now equipped with several Arcana Crystals, capable of charging with Arcana when imbued by someone; these crystals can be used as fuel to empower Abyssal Cannons and attack nearby foes, protecting the city of Elderbridge.]
[A powerful Abyssal Blood Moon Barrier is active at all times; fueled by Arcana and Blood Energy, it will protect the entire city of Elderbridge from any damage as long as its durability and fuel are plentiful.]
[The walls will naturally expand as the city of Elderbridge grows bigger.]
[You gained +1,000 Civilization EXP.]
[You gained +1,000 Ruler EXP.]
[You gained +1,000 Civilization Power.]
[GAME WARNING: System Balance has been breached.]
[You've been restricted from creating special buildings like these for 7 Days.]
"Huh? Oh…"
Vlad was left speechless as he saw the notifications appear; the walls he had created were so monstrous that the Moderators of the Game had to intervene because of how insane they were.
And their punishment wasn't even that severe—just a restriction from doing anything like this for a week.
"Well, aren't they too light with their restrictions? This can be easily waited out until you make another crazy building again…" Chris read the notifications too.
"Yeah… I guess they don't really know how to properly respond to this yet," Vlad said. "I assume that whoever the Moderators and Developers are, they already have their hands full with all the other Realms and their people and players; imagine the amount of work needed to handle such a complicated game."
"Insane…" Chris said. "But I bet it's so big they leave specialized A.I. to do it for them… Maybe that's what the Moderators could be?"
"Maybe…" Vlad nodded. "Well, AI technology is pretty advanced by now. The latest model of house androids is coming out, and they say they have the latest Artificial Intelligence Chips."
"I wonder if they would be as lively as the people of this game?" Chris mused. "Ah well, whatever, those things are way too expensive anyway. We only have the small ones that do cleaning in the house; my dad loves them though."
"I have none; yeah, the capsule alone took most of my savings. I'm not wasting money on an Android…" Paul laughed. "But it sounds cool to have one. Imagine your own android girlfriend…"
"W-What? That's something only virgin losers would want…" Chris shrugged, smiling cockily at Paul. "Oooh, wait, maybe that's why you said that! Heh—Eek! Don't pull my tail!"
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